Gordon pours in 17, Chaney 12 in losing effort

Huskies senior Kenzie Gordon goes up for a shot Monday against Bishop Machebeuf's Aisha May in Florence. (Jeff Shane/Daily Record)

Florence -- The Huskies needed a loss like Monday's. As weird as it may sound, Florence gained a lot from its loss to state-power Bishop Machebeuf.

Though Kenzie Gordon and the Huskies hung around, Aisha May and Lucy Rodgers were too much in the Buffaloes' 57-49 in a non-league game.

May had a game-high 20 -- half of them came in the second quarter -- and Rodgers had 18 for the fifth-ranked Buffaloes.

Gordon finished with 17 to lead the Huskies. She, too, scored 10 in the second quarter. Carly Chaney had 12 to pitch in.

"We played better than we've played all year, even in wins," Huskies coach Brandon Roe said. "That's a good team.

"You hate to lose, but they played hard and did everything we asked them to."

Chalk this up as an emotional win even though the Huskies fell to a season-low, four games under .500 with the loss, now sitting at 3-7 overall. Machebeuf is now 7-1 this season and sits in fifth in the Denver Post Class 3A coaches poll.

Coming off their only loss of the season to rival and No. 3-ranked Holy Family, coach Ellie Kempfe and the Buffaloes didn't expect competition like they got.

"We could definitely play better," Kempfe said. "It's not one of our better games. There's a lot to still work on in the season. ... We'll get better, we'll be OK. We'll bounce back from this.

"No. 23 is a great player," the Buffaloes coach said referring to Gordon. "She definitely carried the team for them tonight both as a court leader and emotionally. I was very impressed."

Gordon said the team was better prepared mentally for Monday's game than in some early-season losses. It didn't hurt that they had a crowd, and even a student section and band getting into the game.

"We came out thinking that they were going to be really, really good, which they were," Gordon said, "and we just had that drive, and that fight. I think it was just kind of a different atmosphere."

A Megan Droll 3-pointer got the Huskies to within five points early in the fourth quarter, but the Buffaloes kept them at arm's length. Rodgers scored six points in the final quarter to help cinch the game.

Florence's returns to Tri-Peaks League play at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The Huskies will travel to play Fountain Valley in Colorado Springs.